Neena Gupta, Kapil Dev make surprise appearances in '83'

Neena Gupta. Pic/Satej Shinde

Actress Neena Gupta essays the part of Kapil Dev's mother Rajkumari Lal Nikhanj in '83'. Ironically, the father of her daughter, Sir Viv Richards, was Kapil's bete noir at the 1983 World Cup.

The film has another surprise in it: Kapil Dev makes a cameo appearance as a member of the audience who picks up the ball after a cracker of a shot by Ranveer Singh, who plays the cricket legend in the film. The character played by Kapil exclaims: "Good shot, Kapil!"

The Indian cricket team, spearheaded by Kapil Dev, squared off against the mighty West Indies in the 1983 World Cup finals. Neena Gupta dated Sir Viv, the West Indies batting legend, who was a member of the 1983 Carribean squad led by Sir Clive Lloyd, which was then considered invincible, having won the first two World Cups.

In the finals, Sir Viv scored 33 runs from 28 balls with a strike rate of 117.85 before he was caught dramatically by Kapil on a Madan Lal delivery. Earlier, when India was playing, he proved expensive with the ball -- conceding eight runs in the one and only over he bowled.

Neena Gupta and Sir Viv started dating in the late 1980s and their daughter, Masaba Gupta, is one of India's leading couturiers and also an actor who made her debut with the Netflix original, 'Masaba Masaba'. Neena completed her part of shooting for the film back in December 2019.

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